This invention relates to woodworking planes and chisels.
Planes are used in woodworking to flatten and smooth a surface. Conventional planes use blades oriented at an angle (generally between about 12xc2x0 and 45xc2x0) to the sole of the plane and, therefore, to the surface being worked. The blades are mounted on the plane body, generally with screws and other devices, and protrude through a slot in the bottom of the plane to contact the work surface under the plane.
This configuration precludes quick and easy blade removal or adjustment so that the sharp edge does not project from the plane. Instead, the user must entirely remove the blade from the plane or retract the blade, both of which are time-consuming.
Moreover, some woodworking operations, such as those involving flush trimming projections such as glue lines, laminate edges and plugs, can best be accomplished with a tool having a cutting edge or arris at the end of a blade positioned very close to, or against, the surface of the workpiece. However, conventional blade mounting arrangements make it difficult to mount a plane blade at an angle lower than about twelve degrees relative to the work surface.
While in some instances it is possible to perform these operations using a bench chisel with the underside of the chisel blade resting on the work surface, at times the handle of such a chisel prevents it from being positioned close to the work surface. In those instances, a crank-necked chisel may serve, but in either case the challenge of controlling a chisel is present. A chisel plane may provide greater control, but conventional chisel planes necessarily position the blade not with the underside resting against the work surface but at an angle relative to the surface of the workpiece, which may be undesirable.
This invention addresses these problems by providing a plane having an easily removable blade oriented to rest on the work surface. The plane consists of a handle and a blade. The underside of the contoured handle is fitted with a ferromagnetic cup, containing a magnet. A blade, having a sharp end with an arris or cutting edge and a blunt opposite end, is positioned on the underside of the handle. The magnet attracts the metal blade and secures the blade to the handle. When positioned in this way, nothing projects from the handle below the bottom surface of the blade, and therefore the bottom surface of the blade acts like the sole of a conventional bench plane and rests on the work surface. This permits trimming to be accomplished flush with the work surface.
The blade may be re-positioned on the handle after rotating it 180xc2x0 so that the cutting edge is protected and only the blunt end is exposed. To store the blade, the user simply breaks the magnetic attraction between the blade and magnet, reverses the blade and re-secures the blade to the magnet with the cutting edge protected on the underside of the handle. This enables the user to quickly and easily store the plane, even in a crowded tool box, without risk of injury to the user or damage to the cutting edge of the blade.